Pickpockets in Spain: how they work and how not to be the one

The classic moves

• The metro door: a group crowds you as the doors close, one bumps you, another lifts the phone. Happens on busy central lines in Madrid and Barcelona.
• The spill: someone spills mustard, ice cream or a drink on you and helps clean you up while a partner takes your bag.
• The petition or the map: a clipboard in your face, or a friendly person asking for directions, covers the hand going into your pocket.
• The terrace phone: you put the phone on the table, a flyer or a newspaper lands on it, and leaves with it.
• The chair hook: a bag hung on the back of a chair is emptied from behind in seconds.
• The football trick: a stranger wants to show you a dribbling move and ends up with your wallet.

Habits that make you boring to them

• Phone in a front pocket or a zipped inner pocket, never a back pocket or an open bag.
• Bag across the body, zip in front, hand on it in crowds and on the metro.
• Nothing on the table on a terrace: phone, wallet and sunglasses go in your pocket or lap.
• Carry only the cash and one card you need; leave the passport in the hotel safe and carry a photo of it.
• Walk on when approached. A polite no, no eye contact, keep moving.
• On the beach in Barcelona and Valencia, never leave a bag unattended while you swim.

If it happens

• Block your cards immediately through the bank app, and remotely lock or wipe your phone (Find My / Find My Device) if it was the phone.
• 112 for an emergency. For a theft without violence, go to the nearest Policía Nacional station (or Mossos d'Esquadra in Catalonia) to file a denuncia. Big cities have tourist-oriented stations with interpreters: in Madrid at Calle Leganitos next to Plaza de España, in Barcelona on Las Ramblas.
• The denuncia is what your travel insurance needs. Keep a copy.
• Lost passport: after the denuncia, contact your embassy or consulate for an emergency travel document.
• Check Lost and Found a day or two later: thieves often dump wallets and bags minus the cash, and they turn up at police stations and city Lost and Found offices.

Perspective

Spain is one of the safest countries in Europe for violent crime, and you will see families out with children at midnight. Pickpockets are a nuisance concentrated in a few very predictable places, and the habits above make you close to invisible to them. Do not let it make you nervous; let it make you tidy.